…but it might make your existence pretty miserable.
I just learned that a friend will be starting dialysis. Like another friend who has been on dialysis, this one has diabetes and has continued to eat foods from restaurants, mostly meats and other processed foods. A suggestion for a change of diet falls on deaf ears. Just like it did for my friend Gail who died almost two years ago.
Although her health continued to deteriorate, Gail refused to change her eating habits. Even the day that I was told by her doctor that she must be hospitalized, I found her bringing a bag of fast food and a large soda from her car into her house. After she died and I had to return to the house to clean it out, there was that bag and cup that she had put in the refrigerator. I was so angry. No, the food didn’t actually kill her, but it made her health so bad. And I continue to see more friends following this trail.
Bad eating leads to health problems. Then drugs are added to the mix which can cause other health problems. Just a change to a plant-based diet could turn things around, but most people just refuse to believe that and continue with the bad eating. Finally, surgery, dialysis, failing organs, amputation…the list goes on.
So, I am frustrated. I am angry. And, I am very sad.
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I’m so sorry. I don’t understand why people live that, especially after their health deteriorates to that point. And we are left to miss them and be sad that they didn’t care enough to make a change. Thinking of you and sending (((HUGS))).
Thank you. I have just read, in this morning’s paper, the obituary of a ‘kid’ I went to school with back in the 60s. He had been a butcher and ate too much of his own work.
😦
Well, unfortunately there isn’t much you can do about it. Unfortunately.
No, I can’t. Sometimes I feel it’s better to just withdraw from people who do this to themselves rather than stay around and watch the downward spiral. Having seen it so many times now, I know there is no way I can talk them out of their bad eating.
I appreciate your thoughts. I for one, who ate on the fly (literally) for years while working and traveling, am learning how to fix foods from scratch all over again. I have been able to ward off the family diseases of Diabetes and heart disease, but Arthritis plagues me badly. Walking with great difficulty at present, but not from what I eat. Has more to do with spinal stenosis and scoliosis.
I just saw “Fed Up” in the theater. If you get a chance to see it, you might understand why people don’t change their eating habits. It’s addictive, and if you don’t know how to break the cycle, it’s very hard to change. I’m sad for your loss, though, and understand your frustration.
I have read that fast food is addictive. There is so much sugar and other preservatives in the stuff that it causes people to crave it.
Everything in moderation! I know 2 vegans who died recently – a 46 year old man who died of cancer, and a 70 year old woman who died of a heart attack.
A fellow with whom I did my student teaching was quite the health nut. He ate healthy foods and worked out in the gym a few times a week. He also ran. He was never sick a day in his life. Always had lots of energy. One day, after his gym workout, while changing his clothes, he dropped dead at 71. Another teaching buddy who was extremely healthy and did all the right things was killed on his bicycle while competing in a race at age 57. We are all going out some time; I would just prefer to go out in good health.
We can all find instances where someone who did everything they could died young anyway. However, there must be a whole lot more people who did everything they could and lived a wonderful, energetic life. I’ve seen people who ate bad food, gained weight and was not able to do the things they wanted to. Travel became difficult, just walking was often more than they could handle. It’s the quality of life we’re aiming for. I do fall off the wagon occasionally, but I do try to be healthy. Not easy. Your post was a good reminder and warning to me.